Former
South American Counter-Terrorism Official Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court
To More Than 16 Years In Prison For Attempting To Support Hezbollah

Also convicted of narcotics
trafficking and firearms offenses

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, and John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for
National Security, announced that DINO BOUTERSE, a citizen of Suriname who
assisted in the formation of that country’s Counter-Terrorism Unit, was
sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 195 months in prison for
attempting to provide material support and resources to Hezbollah, a designated
terrorist organization, along with narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses.
BOUTERSE, who was arrested in Panama on August 29, 2013, and arrived in the
United States on August 30, 2013, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Shira
A. Scheindlin, who also imposed today’s sentence.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Dino Bouterse
was supposed to oppose terrorism. Instead, Bouterse betrayed his official
position and tried to support and aid Hezbollah, including his agreement to
assist Hezbollah in acquiring weapons, and conspiring to import cocaine to the
U.S. Today he has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term for those odious
crimes.”

According to the Indictment, other documents filed in
Manhattan federal court, and statements made at today’s sentencing:

In
2013, BOUTERSE used his position within the government of Suriname to assist
individuals he believed were members of Hezbollah, who informed BOUTERSE that
they intended to conduct terrorist attacks against American interests. In
exchange for a multimillion-dollar payment, BOUTERSE agreed to allow large
numbers of purported Hezbollah operatives to use Suriname as a permanent base
for, among other things, attacks on American targets. In furtherance of his
efforts to assist Hezbollah, BOUTERSE (i) supplied a false Surinamese passport
to a purported Hezbollah operative for the purpose of clandestine travel,
including travel to the United States; (ii) discussed heavy weapons that he
could provide to Hezbollah; and (iii) instructed the purported Hezbollah members
about how Hezbollah operatives, supplied with a Surinamese cover story, could
enter the United States.

In June 2013, BOUTERSE and a co-defendant, Edmund Quincy
Muntslag, met in BOUTERSE’s office in Suriname with confidential sources (the
“CSs”) working with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) to discuss
importing cocaine into the United States using commercial airline flights.
During the meeting, BOUTERSE showed the CSs a rocket launcher and a kilogram of
cocaine.

Approximately one month later, BOUTERSE and Muntslag
worked to provide transportation and security for cocaine being sent through
Suriname to the United States. As a test run, BOUTERSE and Muntslag sent 10
kilograms of cocaine on a commercial flight departing from Suriname. BOUTERSE
personally verified the arrangements for the 10-kilogram cocaine shipment in a
text message. The cocaine was intercepted by law enforcement officials after it
departed Suriname.

In July 2013, BOUTERSE met with one of the CSs to discuss
opening Suriname to the CSs’ purported Hezbollah associates.

Later that month, BOUTERSE met in Europe with one of the
CSs and with two other men who purported to be associated with Hezbollah. During
this meeting, BOUTERSE discussed initially hosting 30 to 60 Hezbollah members in
Suriname for training and operations. He also indicated that he wanted a
Hezbollah cell in Suriname to act, in part, as a personal armed force. BOUTERSE
confirmed his understanding that the purported Hezbollah operatives would
operate in South America against American targets, and he agreed to supply
Surinamese passports to the operatives – and to assist with their applications
for visas to travel from South America into the United States. In addition, in
response to a request for surface-to-air missiles and rocket-propelled grenades,
BOUTERSE stated that he would need “two months” and that he would provide a list
of what he could supply. Finally, at the July 2013 meeting in Europe, BOUTERSE
agreed to create a false Surinamese passport for one of the purported Hezbollah
operatives, so that BOUTERSE and the Hezbollah operative could travel to
Suriname to inspect the facilities that BOUTERSE had agreed to prepare for the
Hezbollah contingent.

At a subsequent meeting in August 2013, BOUTERSE delivered
a Surinamese passport with false identifying information to a purported
Hezbollah operative. As had been discussed at the July 2013 meeting in Europe,
the purported Hezbollah operative was to use the fraudulent passport to travel
to Suriname. BOUTERSE indicated that everything was ready in Suriname for the
arrival of the purported Hezbollah members, and that some “toys” – a code-word
for weapons – would be available for inspection.

Following this meeting, BOUTERSE was arrested by
Panamanian law enforcement and transferred to the custody of the DEA.

*
* *

On August 29, 2014, BOUTERSE pled guilty to (i) attempting
to provide material support to Hezbollah, a Foreign Terrorist Organization; (ii)
conspiring to import five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States;
and (iii) using and carrying, or aiding and abetting the use and carrying of, a
firearm or during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime. In addition to
his prison term, BOUTERSE, 42, a citizen of Suriname, was ordered to pay a $300
special assessment fee.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding efforts of the Special
Operations Division of the DEA. Mr. Bharara also thanked the DEA’s Miami Field
Division, Panama City Country Office, Port-of-Spain Country Office, and Bogota
Country Office; the Government of the Republic of Panama; and the U.S.
Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and its National
Security Division.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and
International Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael D.
Lockard, Adam Fee, Michael Ferrara, and Edward Y. Kim are in charge of the
prosecution.